2018 in Review

To continue fostering community development, LITE-Africa initiated the integrated water, sanitation and hygiene (i-WASH) action. This year, the intervention successfully built the capacities of selected community members on WASH management, leadership and advocacy. It also sensitised over 10000 community members on the benefits and importance proper sanitation, regular hand washing and dangers of plastic pollution on the environment.  Currently, construction and rehabilitation of the first phase of ECOSAN toilets and Solar water projects are at different stages of completion.

In our pursuit of promoting human rights, we have continued to promote the VPs in Nigeria and to ensure the adherence and successful implementation of the VPs by fostering dialogue and collaboration between multiple stakeholders including local communities. This year under the VPI over 120 security personnel were successfully trained on the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

This year, under the PENDISA II project, LITE-Africa cemented the successes of the project thus far by printing copies of the CRC and the independent CSOs report these reports proved to be invaluable advocacy tools.  Citizens were also sensitised on the mandates of the NDIs through a radio series and a number of twitter conferences. Finally, through an executive administrative memo, the NDDC agreed to the formation of the independent joint monitoring team.

Through the guidance of LITE-Africa under the SCOSEN project, members of selected communities were able to carry out effective project monitoring of NDDC projects. They successfully carried out advocacy visits to NDDC.

 KEY PROGRAMMES IN 2018 

1. PROMOTING TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNANCE

• PENDISA II
• SCOSEN

2. FOSTERING DEVELOPMENT IN COMMUNITIES
   • I-WASH

3. PRIVATE SECTOR ENGAGEMENT (PRISED}
   • VPSHR
   • CNL Monitoring and Evaluation
   • KIISI Trust Mapping, organisation capacity assessment and capacity building of community based organisations (CBOs) in Ogoni land

Promoting Transparency in Governance

 PENDISA II

This year saw the close out of the second phase of the ‘Promoting Effective Niger Delta Institutions through Improved Social Accountability (PENDISA II) project which was part of the ‘Strengthening Advocacy and Civic Engagement’ (SACE) programme funded by both United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Partnership Initiative in the Niger Delta (PIND). Some of the activities in the project were co-implemented with ANEEJ. The project aimed;

1. To enhance the capacity of community CSOs to advocate and engage Niger Delta institutions
2. To improve engagement between Niger Delta institutions and communities on good governance and inclusive socio-economic development

• To create awareness on transparency and accountability mechanisms for engaging Niger Delta institutions among stakeholders

1. Secure the buy-in of NDDC new management to CSOs effort, to support the commissions project monitoring framework
2. To follow-up on the successes recorded with NDDC to ensure the functionality of the Independent CSOs Project Monitoring Committee.
3. To support the Independent CSOs Project Monitoring Committee to undertake extensive project monitoring and generate reports which will be used to interface with NDDC and the public.

The second phase was executed in all 9 states in the Niger Delta region. As a result of the project, community-led GMoU structures were also equipped with advocacy skills, transparency and accountability tools to engage NDIs and create public awareness campaigns on the mandates of the NDIs. The engagement between civil society, GMoU communities and NDIs lead to more transparent and accountable institutions working for economic growth and development of the region

To improve engagement between Niger Delta institutions and communities on good governance and inclusive socio-economic development, a number of advocacy visits were paid to the NDIs including DESOPADEC, OSOPADEC and the NDDC. At these meetings, valuable recommendations were made, and commitments made earlier were reinforced. The Meetings also provided an opportunity to share findings from the comprehensive CRC reports with the commissions. These visits yielded a number of successes including, updating of the OSOPADEC Facebook and Twitter page which has items up to June, 2018. Many of the commissions have also increased citizens’ participation by holding some stakeholder meetings in 2018 where community members were given the opportunity to make contributions to their activities, project selection and implementation.

To further strengthen and ensure the functionality of the inaugurated joint NDDC & CSOs independent project monitoring committee, a validation workshop for the report compiled by the committee was held with the NDDC in Port Harcourt. At the workshop, the NDDC also issued an executive memo in response to issues identified in the committee’s report detailing how they will be addressed, the commission also committed to organize engagement meetings with CSOs across the nine Niger Delta States in the coming months.

To create awareness on transparency and accountability mechanisms for engaging Niger Delta institutions among stakeholders, a number of twitter conferences were organised. These conferences discussed issues including duplication of projects and poor citizen’s participation in the activities of the NDIs. A series of radio programmes were also aired to amplify citizens voice and provide a platform to demand improved service delivery from the NDIs through live call-ins. The twitter conferences and radio programmes also provided avenues to share the findings of the comprehensive CRC report which were printed and distributed earlier in the year.

SCOSEN

To ensure a well functional public sector that adheres to the tenets of transparency, accountability and inclusive participation of the citizens, this year, we initiated the Strengthening the Capacity of Stakeholders for Effective Engagement of NDDC (SCOSEN) project in collaboration with CEDI. The initiative which was aimed at strengthening the capacity of stakeholders for effective advocacy, monitoring and reporting of NDDC projects, was a 3-month project implemented in two local government areas (Uvwie and Warri South) and six communities (Ugbolokposo, Okuatata, Ebrumede, Edjeba, Ugbuwangue and Ugbori) in Delta state.

The project which was targeted at community leaders, men and women groups, Youth group, people with disability, NDDC management Delta State, and the Media sought to facilitate coordination between community stakeholders and NDDC, which in turn enhanced service delivery of the commission’s mandate in targeted communities. Finally, the intervention aimed to promote community member’s participation in project selection, design and implementation through assessments of NDDC projects.

To achieve these goals, a number of trainings were conducted to sensitise community members on NDDC project monitoring, reporting and effective advocacy. They were also sensitised on development of project monitoring and reporting tools suitable for the monitoring of NDDC projects. Through LITE-Africa’s guidance, after the sensitisations and trainings, members of the communities constituted themselves into a Local Project Monitors group (LPM) which was made up two people from each community making a total of twelve persons for the six project communities. This LPM’s main task was monitoring and reporting on NDDC projects.

Under the project, a number of advocacy visits were also paid to several Honourable Councillors selected communities. These visits which were attended by the LPM were organised to present the councillors with the findings and recommendations from the project monitoring, trainings and meetings held, in a bid to get them to work closely with the local project monitoring committees set up by the project to join their voice in advocating for more transparent and accountable NDDC. This collaboration also worked to reinforce the projects aims.

At the end of the project, it was deduced through a final monitoring and evaluation that the activities held during the project had a positive impact on stakeholders who actively participated during town hall meeting and trainings. It was also discovered that some participants had already begun step-down training on project monitoring, advocacy and taking ownership of NDDC projects, especially for women and youths in their communities. During the M&E exercise, respondents praised the efforts of LITE-Africa and CEDI in implementing all the activities and the inclusion of all affected stakeholders including women and PWDs.

Fostering Development in Communities

 IWASH

In our continued pursuit of fostering community development, LITE-Africa in partnership with WANEP continued the implementation of the integrated water, sanitation and hygiene (i-WASH) action. The program which was initiated in late 2017 is a 20-month intervention with support from the European Union that seeks to provide access to sustainable water supply, sanitation, services delivery and proper hygiene practices in 2 local governments and 7 communities in Delta State including; Aviara, Uzere and Igbide in Isoko LGA, and Emu-Ebendo, Lagos-Ogbe, Emu-Uno and Ogbe-Ani in Ndokwa West LGA.  The projects specific objectives include;

1. Improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene services in 4 communities each of Isoko South and Ndokwa West LGAs in Delta state
2. Promoting collaboration between NGOs/CBOs and government through safe water and sanitation facilities that would contribute to poverty alleviation and job creation in Delta state
3. Promoting advocacy campaigns on water governance in Delta state.

To fulfil its objective of improving access to water, sanitation and hygiene services in the selected communities. LITE-Africa has commenced the construction of 3 Mini Solar Powered Water Boreholes and 2 ECOSAN toilet facilities in 3 action communities in 2 LGAs. These constructions are the first phase of constructions under the project and works under this phase are at different stages of completion.

Finally, to create awareness amongst community stakeholders and members on the relevance of water, sanitation and hygiene in promoting good health, this year under the action, LITE Africa organised a number of Town halls, rallies, capacity building and sensitisations workshops for members of the targeted communities. The capacity building and sensitisation workshops trained participants on WASH facility management, leadership and advocacy skills. So far, the action has increased the awareness of over 10,000 members of the public the benefits and importance proper sanitation and regular hand washing.

Private Sector Engagement (PRISED)

Training programmes on the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

In our pursuit of promoting human rights, we have continued to promote the VPs in Nigeria to ensure its adherence and successful implementation in the country by fostering dialogue and collaboration between multiple stakeholders including local communities. In view of this, working closely with both members of the government pillar (the Swiss Embassy) and the corporate pillar (Chevron Nigeria Limited) we organised and facilitated a series of trainings to ensure greater respect and protection of human rights and fundamental freedom in the extractive industry by security operatives.

The training programmes aimed at enhancing participants’ understanding of human rights due diligence, torture and the use of force and firearms as it relates to the United Nations convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment and the UN code of conduct for law enforcement officials, especially for the government security forces. The training took place in five locations, including offshore facilities namely Warri, Escravos, Abiteye, Lagos and Port Harcourt. The participants numbering over 120 were drawn from Government Security Forces (GSF), private security personnel and CNL security staff.

The Voluntary Principles Initiative became necessary because of widespread international concern over the way security forces operate while protecting oil and mining installations in many parts of the world.  Using the instrument of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, LITE-Africa has continued to provide capacity building and guided policy reforms towards integrating human rights into companies’ operations in Nigeria.

Till date, LITE-Africa has trained over 2500 Security personnel on the VPSHR.

 CNL M&E Workshop

This year signalled the end of the Chevron Monitoring and Evaluation exercise. Chevron Nigeria Limited and her Agbami partners (Star Deep Waters Petroleum Limited) engaged the services of LITE-Africa in late 2017 to assess its projects in education and health, especially Science Laboratories, libraries (traditional and hybrid) and chest clinics, spread across the country.  The goals of the projects are to improve the standard and quality of education of the students in the benefiting schools through developed reading culture; improve academic performance of students in science subjects and reduce the burden of TB in the communities served by the chest clinics.

LITE-Africa’s strategy for the project implementation includes collating baseline data for new projects, performance measurement and monitoring on the 1^st and 2^nd years and evaluation on post 3-years deployment. The baseline survey covered 10 projects in nine states, while performance measurement and monitoring on the 1^st and 2^nd years spanned nine projects in nine states. The evaluation on post 3-years deployment was carried out on 45 projects located in 28 states of the federation.

LITE-Africa opted for Precede-Proceed model to appraise these projects. The model is touted to be a cost–benefit evaluation framework that can help health program planners, policy makers and other evaluators analyse situations and design health programs efficiently.

After the assessment of the post 3 year deployments, between march and April 2018, LITE Africa organised a series of evaluation workshops for each project type. The workshops enabled participants share concrete and useful lessons and experiences that could be applied to improve on future project design, implementation and ownership. The workshop also provided an avenue for the review and validation of the monitoring and evaluation data, knowledge sharing and completion of missing gaps identified during the field assessment.

 KIISI Trust Assessment and training

Community Based Organizations’ occupy an invaluable niche in a community by providing the needed social services that improve the wellbeing of the community. Therefore, the internal assessment of an organisation in addition to capacity building is a prerequisite for the success and sustainability of an organisation.  In line with best practices, the Advisory Council of the Kiisi Trust Fund in 2018, engaged the services of LITE-Africa to carry out a mapping, organisation capacity assessment (OCA) and capacity building of Community Based Organizations’ in Ogoni land. The OCA was carried out in four local government areas (Tai, Eleme, Khana and Gokana) of Rivers state.

The objectives of the project included identifying CBOs operating in 4 Ogoni LGAs in Rivers state and identify their capacity needs, providing a compendium of Ogoni CBOs and CSOs that will aid Kiisi Trust Funds grant making objectives, Enhancing the operational capability of the Ogoni CBOs for optimal performance, enhancing knowledge, attitude and managerial skills of CBOs staff for overall programme management and self-sustenance and boosting the understanding of Ogoni CBOs on what community development programmes seek to achieve.

During the course of the OCA which took place between September and October of 2018, a total of 127 CBOs were evaluated in the 4 local governments.  Through the OCA, we understood the institutional status and identified the gaps within the CBOs assessed.

Building on knowledge gained through the OCA, we then designed and organised a 5-day intensive capacity building workshop for 25 of the 127 assessed CBOs. The 25 selected CBOs were trained on NGO Governance and Resource mobilization. This training which took them through the intricacies of good proposal writing and budgeting, equipped them with skills not just to assess funding from KIISI Trust but from other funding agencies including the EU. At the end the training, each organisation was presented with certificates and laptop computers.